Report: Casey Anthony plans to fire attorney Jose Baez

TBO.com TBO.com

Published: January 11, 2012

Updated: March 19, 2013 at 10:58 AM

Casey Anthony, incensed by an ongoing media circus during her probation, reportedly plans to fire Jose Baez, the attorney who defended her against charges involving her toddler's slaying.
The New York Post quoted a source that said Anthony and Baez "haven't been talking for weeks" and that last week's unauthorized release of two video diaries "was the last straw."
The Post said Anthony was angry over how Baez was "using her name as a meal ticket" while attempting to nail down Anthony's first television interview since she was released from the Orange County Jail in July.
"He's going around taking meetings with TV producers and networks," the source said. "She doesn't trust him anymore."

Baez reportedly has been asking $750,000 for the interview.
The Post reported that co-counsel Cheney Mason would take over as Anthony's media representative.
The source told the newspaper that Anthony regularly reads Internet reports about herself. According to the Post, Anthony's "inner circle" reportedly grew angrier with Baez after the recent postings on YouTube of two "diary" videos recorded by Anthony.
Baez appeared on the Fox News Channel show "Geraldo at Large" on Sunday and said the videos were taken illegally.
"I think it's criminal," he told host Geraldo Rivera, "and if it is, we're going to ask that it be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and let's see if the authorities are brave enough to do it."
Anthony's probation report, released by the Florida Department of Corrections on Tuesday, showed that she told her probation officer that her computer was hacked and had private videos she had recorded.
The probation officer described Anthony as upset that the videos were downloaded from her computer and put on YouTube.
Anthony, 25, is on probation through August after pleading guilty to check fraud. She was acquitted in July on charges related to her 2-year-old daughter Caylee's death in 2008. She is serving her probation in hiding because of death threats against her.

About tbo (Tampa Bay Online) provides local news and information for Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater and communities throughout Tampa Bay. Originally published by The Tampa Tribune, tbo is now among the portfolio of brands powered by the Tampa Bay Times.